Published: 14/Jul/2017
Source: UNHCR

This Update highlights many activities and developments on statelessness that have taken place globally in the last three months, demonstrating the ongoing commitment to eradicating statelessness:

Madagascar and Sierra Leone have amended their nationality laws to grant women equal rights with men to confer nationality on their children, bringing the total number of countries that retain such discrimination in their nationality laws down to 25.

On 9 May, ECOWAS Ministers validated the “Banjul Plan of Action on the Eradication of Statelessness” during a regional meeting in The Gambia. The Banjul Plan of Action sets out concrete measures to end statelessness by 2024 and is legally binding on Member States.

High-level regional discussions on prevention and reduction of statelessness have taken place, including a workshop co-convened by UNHCR and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) resulting in a “Draft Declaration on the Eradication of Statelessness” and a European Parliamentary hearing on statelessness.

A new study on statelessness has been released by UNHCR Austria entitled “Mapping on Statelessness in Austria”.